


Containment

by CalicoPudding



Series: Law of the Land - HQ Spirit Fic [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe, Animal Transformation, Caves, Chronic Pain, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Flowers, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Magic, Minor Injuries, Scars, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 11:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7101043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalicoPudding/pseuds/CalicoPudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yahaba has long since stopped wincing when hears Kyoutani’s bones snapping into place, now he just grimaces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Containment

**Author's Note:**

> Kyoutani's my new fave, and there's a KyouHaba week this month. So while this isn't KyouHaba, it's practice, and more background for the AU

“Yahaba, are you sure you can handle him?”

“Don’t I always?”

“Well, yes, but he’s been getting worse lately.”

“It’s my job, Kunimi, I’ve always been able to handle him, and I always will be able to. If you have concerns you can always tell the King.”

Yahaba pauses, waiting for Kunimi to try and stop him, but they only nod and move away, allowing Yahaba through. The walk down the third path is long and winding, Yahaba remembers when it was short, when he didn’t have to go so far. But there isn’t much he can do about it now, he doubts even their King could do anything. Even Iwaizumi is ineffective now.

The cave comes into sight just as Yahaba is wondering if he’s moved it again.

“Kyoutani? Where are you?”

Yahaba flexes his hand a small flame ignites in his palm, illuminating the entirety of the cave. Nothing seems to have changed all that much; the walls are still worn smooth, save for the places covered in scratches, and it still lacks any kind of base comfort.

“You're early,” says a gravelly voice from one of the cave shelves above Yahaba’s head.

“Better early than late,” he calls back.

Yahaba jumps, easily landing beside Kyoutani on the sizeable outcrop. He looks worse for wear, as is common in the summer, Yahaba has seen him looking worse however. His eyes are red rimmed, his usual shadowy bottom lid is pitch black and spreading like a raccoon’s. He practically oozes fatigue, heavy limbed with a hazy glaze obscuring the usual hard light in his eyes. Kyoutani’s been in the cave for the past few days; his anger seems to swell in the day leading to the shift and it’s not good for him to be surrounded by others.

“You look terrible,” Yahaba says.

“Shut up.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Terrible.”

The flowers dotting Kyoutani’s body have already vanished, Yahaba can still see them writhing beneath his skin.

“Kentarou,” he says sharply.

“What?” Kyoutani snaps, turning to face Yahaba and gnashing his teeth. His canines haven't changed yet but his lips are quivering; a telltale sign of just how far along he is.

“Don't.”

Yahaba maintains eye contact, keeping his fire between the two of them so Kyoutani decides against charging at him. It’s tense for all of seven seconds before Kyoutani deflates, shoulders drooping forward. Yahaba wills the fire down some, moves it to his other hand so he can move closer. He settles his free hand, still warm though some might argue that it’s too hot, on Kyoutani’s head, scratching lightly against his scalp.

“How bad is it right now?” he asks.

“It’s a storm.”

The system is something Iwaizumi came up with, when he figured Kyoutani’s pain scale was on some incomprehensible level, either because his tolerance was so high, or he was incredibly disillusioned with what was ‘a little’ pain and ‘I’m going to die, it hurts so much’ pain. The system ranks pain based on weather and natural phenomenons. No pain is a sunny day, easily ignorable pain is a light rain, all the way up to tempest. But Kyoutani’s at storm right now, storm level pain would likely have anyone else in their province unconscious, but Kyoutani’s isn’t showing anything. For him, it’s taxing but manageable.

“Okay,” Yahaba maintains a steady heat in his hand, moving from the top of Kyoutani’s head to his neck. Kyoutani growls, more of a low rumble like thunder, but he stops once the warmth seeps into his skin a little. The flowers on Yahaba’s skin begin to glow softly as he heats up.

They stay like that for some time, until the sun sets and the cave grows darker. Yahaba lets his fire die, and instead, his skin begins to glow, his flowers to. Gold intermingled with red, the very air around him grows hot as he lights up the shelf they’re sitting on. He moves his hand away from Kyoutani, his proximity is enough for the warmth.

“Now?” Yahaba prompts, his irises changing from brown to a mixture of orange and red as the glow brightens a fraction.

“Almost a tempest,” Kyoutani whispers.

The change is always gradual, stretching out the pain and increasing it with every second. His bones crack and his muscles tear as his entire body rearranges himself. Right before his pain reaches tempest level, Kyoutani oftens looks as though he wouldn’t mind death. His eyes are straining and it’s easy to see that he’s suffering.

Just as the waves of pain reach their crescendo, Kyoutani lets out a scream. The wail is warbled and distorted, his vocal chords are shifting with the rest of him, but he keeps screaming until the shift ends.

Yahaba’s still glowing, glowing brighter now that Kyoutani’s finally shifted. The being before him only has Kyoutani’s eyes. Though forest aligned like the rest of their province, Kyoutani’s the only half beast, just as Yahaba is the only one partially aligned with fire. Kyoutani’s beast is that of a wolf, but it’s not a proper wolf, the shift is cruel and it’s not that seamless. His fur is dark, streaked in gold, and shaggy, Yahaba would call it unkempt. His teeth are uneven, large canines protruding unevenly in a way that can’t be comfortable.  Like this, Kyoutani’s bigger than Yahaba, could easily tear him limb from limb if not for the glow he’s emitting.

Yahaba can see the massive scars stretching across Kyoutani’s back. They’re ugly and jagged, and they’re from one of Kyoutani’s first shifts with Yahaba.

That time, in the middle of shifting, Kyoutani had managed to contort himself enough to rake his partially formed claws across his back, perhap in some misguided attempt to punish himself. Yahaba still doesn’t know. Kyoutani had ripped up his muscles and was bleeding heavily by the time the shift finished. Yahaba had to cauterize the gashes, which made the whole night even worse because Kyoutani was even more aggressive.

Slowly, Yahaba stands, knowing full well that Kyoutani will see it as an offense. Sure enough, Kyoutani growls at him, an earthquake and thunderclaps and the roars of thousands of beasts, all rumbling through his chest. He fixes his eyes on Yahaba, regards him warily, much like he had when they first met.

Iwaizumi had seen Kyoutani on patrol, and after a few weeks of building rapport, Kyoutani agreed to join their province. Apparently he’d not belonged to any province before then and had been cave hopping. He wasn’t entirely fond of Oikawa, though the latter will deny that if asked, but he stuck by Iwaizumi’s side. When his first shift happened, he’d nearly killed Kindaichi, and he gave Kunimi a nasty scar on their right leg; no flowers had grown there since. Yahaba had reacted on instinct alone, summoning a small blaze in his hand, effectively holding Kyoutani’s attention. They’d spent all of ten hours like that, facing each other, cautiously moving as the other did, the only thing between Yahaba and certain death was the fire in his hand.

It’s a little different now. Kyoutani’s shifts have gotten worse, and Yahaba’s powers have grown stronger. The glow he’s emitting has a calming effect, enough to ensure enough reaction time should Kyoutani try to attack him. In turn, Kyoutani’s nearly caused the cave to collapse before, letting out a growl that shook the rock walls. Kyoutani trained with Iwaizumi enough that he managed to legitimately align himself. His power was ridiculous then, and it’s concerning now.

Yahaba takes a step forward, summoning a flame to his hand. It’s fast, urged on by his temperature, and is fully ablaze in an instant. Kyoutani’s eyes leave Yahaba’s for only a second, and the latter takes another step. He’s safely within Kyoutani’s comfort zone now.

Kyoutani hasn’t moved much, aside from raising his hackles like he’s prepared to leap, but Yahaba has just enough faith in his ability to believe that won’t happen. With all the progress they’ve made, he’d hate for it to be ruined in one night.

As he advances, he begins to reach out to Kyoutani with the fire, watching his eyes and waiting for the break. Sometimes the break takes minutes, other times hours. Luckily, it’s seconds this time around.

Kyoutani drops, suddenly boneless, he looks up at Yahaba and whines. Kneeling down, keeping himself above Kyoutani, Yahaba places his free hand in Kyoutani’s fur, lightly scratching. His temperature at this point would burn anything else, but it’s a comfortable kind of warmth for Kyoutani when he’s a beast. It’ll only last for a little while, they still have the whole night ahead of him, and Kyoutani will undoubtedly try to keep himself in the break mentality, but his beast isn’t exactly fond of submitting. Kyoutani, as himself, isn’t either, but it’s better than feeling the bone aching chill that comes with his shift.

Yahaba shakes away the fire, his glow will be enough for a little while.

The peace lasts for about a half hour before Kyoutani suddenly growls. He leaps up, off the shelf, and tries to run for the cave entrance. Yahaba stretches his palm towards Kyoutani. The fire leaps forward, creating a layer of barriers that block the entrance, one wall of flames lands a heart beat in front of Kyoutani. He leaps back and sneezes, startled. Yahaba would find it cute if not for the fact that a split second later, Kyoutani’s got his murderous gaze directed at him.

The growl that rumbles in Kyoutani’s chest makes the walls shake, not enough to bring any rocks down on top of them, but enough to cause concern. Yahaba jumps from the shelf, landing a somewhat safe distance away. The flames swell with his breathing, he knows Kyoutani will pick up on that in a few moments, and hopefully it’ll calm him down some.

They stand there, staring at each other and, slowly, Yahaba makes the flames smaller. This time, it’s Kyoutani that moves closer. His eyes are set on the hand Yahaba’s summoned fire with, and Yahaba’s only a little concerned about that. When Kyoutani’s close enough to touch, he noses at Yahaba’s hand a moment before taking it into his mouth and gnawing on it lightly, not hard enough to hurt in any kind of way. Yahaba’s not entirely sure what he’s supposed to do, because Kyoutani’s not being aggressive, and it doesn't actually hurt at all. The decision is made for him when Kyoutani decides his hand isn’t very good and lets go of it.  

Yahaba’s still not sure what to think, but he’ll lord that over Kyoutani for eternity.

Kyoutani tries to escape only two more times, shake the walls once more, and he manages to scratch Yahaba’s arm, thankfully missing the flowers, but it still stings. Then he leaps back up onto the shelf and lays down, whining pitifully until Yahaba rejoins him. Yahaba dims his glow some, lowering his temperature. Kyoutani seems to take a sudden interest in Yahaba’s flowers, something he’s never done before, sniffing at them. He tries to lick one and Yahaba instinctually thumps his forehead when the action sends sparks down his spine. He freezes, but Kyoutani only sneezes and drops his head.

As the time draws nearer to his shift back, Kyoutani starts to get antsy again. The pain is thrumming to life, but Kyoutani can’t talk as he is so Yahaba has no idea how bad it is.

Kyoutani jumps from the shelf again but doesn’t try to bolt, he just starts pacing back and forth, pawing angrily at the ground. Yahaba joins him shortly after. Though it doesn’t happen often, Kyoutani ha started scratching and biting himself before, that hadn’t ended well either.

His agitation grows as the minutes wear on and Yahaba almost calls a flame to his hands.

When the shifts starts, Kyoutani begins to howl and shortly after, the walls begin to shake again. Yahaba step closer, Kyoutani’s too absorbed in the shift to bother with him. He kneels down, quickly cupping Kyoutani’s head and twisting his fingers into his fur to hold him in place.

Yahaba has long since stopped wincing when hears Kyoutani’s bones snapping into place, now he just grimaces.

The shift back always takes longer, Kyoutani’s told him it feels like dying, but soon enough, the beast is gone.

Understandably, Kyoutani is unconscious. As the fur disappears, the flowers take its place, surging upwards to make up for lost time. Yahaba’s tired but he still has to carry Kyoutani back, so he heaves him onto his shoulder and begins the walk.

Kunimi’s waiting by the main territory line, a weary smile on their lips.

“How was it? We could feel the tremors all the way out here.”

“Could have been worse, could have been better,” Yahaba shrugs, shifting Kyoutani around as he begins to slip.

“What happened to your arm?”

“Just a scratch, I’ll have Oikawa check it out after I drop Kyoutani off with Iwaizumi.”

Kunimi nods and waves their hand, opening up a Yahaba and Kyoutani sized hole in the magic shield so the two of them can pass through.

Kyoutani mumbles something against Yahaba’s back but he isn’t sure what it is.


End file.
